Returning to the River

I love Tuesdays! It is a day where I get thrown back in the River of God’s amazing grace and float along watching the Father’s Kingdom unfold. Tuesday mornings I hang out with my friend Steve, who runs a ministry called Parker Task Force. Steve is a full time volunteer, leading about 150 other volunteers that serve the poorest and neediest in their community. They give away food, financial assistance, wise counsel, and a whole lot of love to people craving it. Steve and I try to spend time praying together but are often interrupted by Rotary members bringing money and gift cards, high school students coming to serve, church folk dropping off food donations, and an overwhelming responsibility for those coming in to seek help.

In the midst of all the commotion one can sense Abba’s love flowing, immersing volunteers and clients alike into the River of Heaven’s grace and mercy. Before I leave Steve walks me through the aisles and fills boxes with food and toiletries that are delivered to the harsh streets of Colfax for young women who sell their bodies in order to survive. As I load my trunk with the supplies, I think of the power of God’s grace and how it flows through people willing to give their lives away for God’s Kingdom. Those boxes represent people’s gifts given of time, talent, and treasures so others can be loved and blessed. The people serving are conduits of God’s love flowing through His children to other children created in His likeness.

Check out the powerful prophetic picture of a River flowing from the temple.

“So where the River flows everything will live.” Ezekiel 47:9

This glorious prophecy points to Pentecost and beyond when the Holy Spirit was unleashed on the followers of Christ and they jumped into the River of God’s gracious gifts of love to be given away to bring healing and salvation to the nations. The book of Acts displays a church splashing the world with the River of God’s grace and bringing the healing power of God’s Kingdom to earth. What turned the world upside down in a few hundred years was not big church buildings, budgets, or butts in the pew. It was people giving away the grace given to them through the Gospel in word and deed. History points to the fact that the most fertile ground was among the poor and the needy. They soaked in the River of God’s love, were transformed by it, and then empowered by the Holy Spirit flooded the nations with the River of life that was evident in their lives. The love of God flowed through them!

Every Tuesday I get a prophetic picture of the River of life and the call to jump in again. Just like in the book of Acts I believe God is calling His people, “the church,” to let the River flow in and through us. Revival is going to happen among the poor and the needy of our world and you and I are also poor and needy. I want to be apart of those who find the River, jump in and become powerful witnesses to the grace of God in their lives. What a prophetic picture of what 2017 can be like!!